Banana Pancakes with Coconut Oil

By Eliot, on March 1st, 2015

I think cooking pancakes was one of the first kitchen lessons mom taught us. We had an ancient round cast iron griddle that we heated on top of the stove. It had a loose wooden handle so you always had to be careful with it. I think it was warped a bit as well, either that or our electric burners were not straight which is more likely the case.

We would coat the griddle with a little vegetable oil, pour on the batter and listen to it sizzle. Then, just at the precise moment when lots of bubbles appeared in the batter, we would carefully flip them.

Most of the time we were successful. Sometimes dad had to eat a mis-flipped pancake but he didn’t seem to mind.

For some reason, this early cooking lesson came back to me as I watched the bubbles appear to time my flips.

Today, I still use an old griddle, but this one is electric and is leftover from The Hubs’ bachelor days. (I was really bummed during the holidays because I plugged it in and whipped up a batch of pancakes for the visiting relatives, only to find a cold, dead appliance. Luckily, I didn’t throw it out immediately because we discovered a few weeks later that it was the electrical outlet and not the griddle).

Dump all 1/4 c. coconut oil (saving the extra 2 T. for cooking) and all other ingredients in a blender and process until smooth, scraping down sides of blender as needed.

Heat griddle and coat with coconut oil. (Depending on the size of the griddle you might only use 1 t. at a time, adding more between each batch.)

Top with pure maple syrup and enjoy.

These pancakes are thin yet creamy (if that makes sense).

The batch made sixteen three to four inch pancakes.

(This banana pancake batter is pretty thin so you will see bubbles forming. On Valentine’s Day, I made Applesauce Pancakes which had a much thicker batter which worked well for my pancake molds. I would be afraid this thin batter would run everywhere if you tried to pour them into molds.)

I’ve been making pancakes with egg whites and walnut oil these days, Debra. I’ve been wondering how Coconut oil would work as the walnut oil is a bit pricey:) They sure do look yummy!

I remember showing both kids that trick about the bubbles on top. My son would be patient but Michele would always want to flip them before they were ready. Wonderful memories and yes, lots of misflips too, lol…

I’ve made pancakes before with 1 Tbsp of coconut oil, but never 1/4 cup+. I love flavor it provides, but I can see that I’ve been way too conservative. Next time I’m going with your recipe. Your pancakes look awesome and describing them as “creamy” if so enticing. Thanks!